Room for Just a Little Bit More (6 page)

“Yep, and he loved it… like… a lot.” The look on Brody’s face as he stood in his kitchen said it all that night. I asked him what he thought on a scale of one to ten. I would never, ever, ever, as long as I lived, forget the number he said. Six hundred fifty-two.

“Obviously.” My mom took Max from Lauren and bounced him on her lap.

I took out my phone and texted Brody.

HEY. I JUST GOT THE ENVELOPE. I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Within seconds, my phone chirped.

B:
I’M GLAD YOU LIKED IT. YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE HOW LONG IT TOOK ME AND VIPER TO COME UP WITH THAT DAMN POEM.

HAHA! WELL, IT MADE ME LAUGH.

B:
GOOD. I’D DO ANYTHING FOR MY GIRL.

AND I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR YOU! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

B:
I JUST SENT YOU A PIC. REMEMBER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE ME WHEN YOU OPEN IT, OKAY?

Uh oh.

The image came through and I stared at the little hourglass spinning round and round, waiting for it to open. When it did, I squinted to get a better view. At first glance, the tiny image just looked like Lucy and Piper making silly faces, but when I blew it up with my fingers, it was a whole different picture. Their sleeves were rolled up and fake tattoos covered their forearms and biceps. They were both flexing, just like Viper was doing behind them, and they had their tongues sticking out. Brody had typed
Having fun with my tattooed Twinkies
above the photo.

“Oh my God.” I started laughing so hard I could barely breathe.

“What now?” Mom looked at Alexa and Lauren, who just shrugged at her. Clearly, they all thought I’d lost my mind. Without saying a word, I handed my phone to my mom, who angled it so that Lauren and Lex could see too. Watching all of their faces when they saw my tattoo-covered twins only made me laugh harder.

“Well,” Lauren finally said once we’d all finished laughing, “it’s probably better than the F-word, huh?”

Just then, Kate came back in the room carrying a silver tray with our drinks on it. “Who’s ready to start looking at dresses?

Three hours and twenty-seven dresses later, I found it.
The
dress. Lex and Lauren were right—I put it on and I just knew. I knew it was the dress I was supposed to walk down the aisle in. I knew it was the dress I was supposed to say vows to my fiancé in. I knew it was the dress I was supposed to dance with my husband in, and I knew it was the dress that would be tossed on the floor at the end of the night when I made love to that husband for the first time, officially.

Who knew drinking champagne and playing human Barbie all day could be so exhausting? When Mom and I got home, I was ready to collapse, but when you have two little girls excited to show you their tattoos, you have to play along.

“Mom! Mom! Look!” they both squealed, rolling their sleeves up as they ran to the front door.

“Oh my goodness, look at you two.” I took turns inspecting each of their arms, which were completely covered in Hello Kitty and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tattoos. “You guys got tattoos? Did they hurt?”

Piper covered her mouth with her tiny hands and giggled as Lucy corrected me, “No, Mom. They’re not real!”

“Oh! Thank goodness.” I wrapped my arms around both of them and pulled them against me. “I’m guessing you had fun with Brody and Viper today?”

“You mean Uncle V?” Piper pulled back and looked up at me.

“Uncle V?”

“Yeah, that’s what he said to call him.” Lucy shrugged, skipping off to the kitchen with Piper tailing behind her.

“Uncle V got really into babysitting today, in case you couldn’t tell,” Brody joked as he came around the corner.

“Obviously.” I met Brody halfway and melted into his open arms. I felt so tiny and safe and comfortable as I lay my head against his chest, I thought I could fall asleep right there, standing up. “Is he still here? I want to thank him.”

“Nah, he left a while ago. Got a text from an… available female and off he went.”

I rolled my eyes against Brody’s chest and mumbled, “Available female, huh? Interesting word choice. I’ll just text him later. Sounds like you guys had fun though. I’m glad.”

“I don’t know how much fun Fred had.” His laugh vibrated through me.

“Oh no, what happened?” I was too tired to lift my head and look at him.

“Well, he lost a bet. A big one. And Viper made him pay up.”

“A bet about what? What did he have to do?” I groaned.

Brody rubbed my back and gave me one last quick squeeze before he released me. “He’s in the kitchen. Go take a look.”

As we walked toward the kitchen, I could hear my mom and the girls laughing. I turned and frowned up at Brody, who just looked down at the ground, trying to hide his grin. Nothing could prepare me for what I was about to see.

“What’s going on? What’s this big bet thing?” Fred’s back was to me when I got to the kitchen, but as he turned slowly, I saw just what everyone was laughing at. Right there, smack dab in the middle of Fred’s forehead, was a Hello Kitty tattoo. “Uh… what… why?” I put my hand over my mouth, trying to hold it together, but it took about six seconds before I was laughing just as hard as the girls.

“I lost a bet.” He frowned.

Brody walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, the perfect height for me to rest my chin and heavy head on. “We were talking about the nickname Twinkies, and that led to talking about the food Twinkies, and that led to Fred betting Viper he couldn’t take down an entire box of Twinkies in two minutes. Viper doesn’t turn down a bet—ever—so he ran to the gas station and bought a box. The rest, as they say, is history.”

I shook my head back and forth in disbelief. “How long do you have to keep that on?”

“Just two days.” Fred sighed. “But he’s coming back tomorrow to take me to lunch. He’s really rubbing it in.”

I tapped Brody’s arms so he’d let go. I needed some water. The girls were retelling the story to my mom in great detail as I grabbed a bottle from the fridge. “Wow. You guys are crazy.” I laughed.

“Is this the mail?” Mom picked up the pile off the counter.

“Yeah, and Kacie, that huge pile over there is yours.” Fred pointed.

“Really?” I was surprised. “I never get mail.”

The stack of envelopes for me had to be two inches high. Once I started sifting through the stuff, I realized most of it was brochures from banquet halls and photographers, ring makers, and so on. One after the other, most of them with my name spelled wrong. “How did they even get my address?” I asked to no one in particular.

“I’m so sorry,” Brody apologized as he watched me flip through the envelopes.

“Hey, stop it. This isn’t your fault.” I kissed his cheek as I continued flipping.

“Yeah, but I was afraid this would happen. As soon as word got out that we were engaged, I worried people would start hounding you. I should have warned you.”

“I can handle some lame brochures. No biggie.”

“Look, that one spelled your name right,” he cheered, “and it doesn’t look like a solicitation.”

He was talking but I couldn’t hear his words past the blood rushing through my ears. That one did spell my name right. It would be pretty ridiculous if it were spelled wrong.

That one was from my dad.

Kacie was frozen like a statue, staring at the envelope in her hands. I lowered myself, trying to get a better view of her eyes. “Babe?”

She blinked but didn’t respond.

“Kacie?” I asked again, my heart racing as I looked at the envelope.

“Honey, what is it?” Her mom took a couple steps toward us as Fred and the girls turned too.

When Kacie still didn’t answer, I slid the envelope out of her hands and took a closer look. “It’s from Don Jensen?” I read the name out loud and looked up at Sophia. As I said the words, it hit me. Don was Kacie’s dad’s name. We hardly ever talked about him, but I remembered her mentioning it a couple times.

Sophia moved in slow motion. Her hands crept up to her mouth as her eyes widened, staring at her daughter. Fred walked over and put his arm around Sophia’s shoulders, pulling her from her moment of shock. She cleared her throat. “Are you gonna open it?”

Kacie’s eyes moved from her mom’s to mine. “I don’t know. Should I?”

“I can’t answer that for you, baby.” I shrugged.

Reaching for the envelope, she took a big breath and ripped it open. I didn’t want to rush her in case she didn’t feel like reading it out loud, but from what I could see through the thin piece of paper, it wasn’t a very long note. Sophia walked over to the fridge, opened the door, and started moving containers around, clearly trying not to stare at Kacie’s reaction to the letter from her dickhead father, who’d walked out on them fifteen years ago. I’d obviously never met the man and shouldn’t be calling him names, but just knowing that he’d left his wife and daughter was enough of a reason for me. Shit, at this point I’d have a hard time walking away from Lucy and Piper, and they weren’t even biologically mine. Speaking of them…

“Hey, what do ya say the three of us go in the living room and draw pictures of Fred with that tattoo on his head?” I had no idea what that letter said, or what was about to happen in that kitchen, but I felt like maybe the girls and I should go in the other room.

“I’m tired,” Lucy whined.

“Me too.” Piper yawned. “Can we just lie on the couch and watch
Frozen
?”

“Sure.” I laughed, looking at my watch. “We haven’t seen it in like five hours. You must be having withdrawal. Come on.” Grabbing the bag of pretzels off the island, I led the girls to the family room.

The girls giggled at Olaf, the goofy talking snowman, as I kept my eyes on the kitchen. Kacie handed the letter to Sophia. It didn’t take Sophia long to read it and set it on the island next to her, where Fred leaned in and read it over her shoulder.

“What are you gonna do?” Sophia asked, barely loud enough for me to hear.

Kacie tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged as Sophia reached out and pulled her in for a hug. The second I heard Kacie sniffle, I slipped out from under the girls and told them I’d be right back. As I walked up behind Kacie, Sophia pursed her lips over her daughter’s shoulder, transferring her to me when I got close enough. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight as Sophia grabbed the letter and held it up for me to read.

Kacie,

Read about your engagement in the paper and realized how much I’ve missed out on. I was hoping we could do lunch and catch up. We have so much to talk about.

Love,

Dad

763-555-0616

“It’s not that I don’t want to see him,”—Kacie stood up suddenly, as if someone had asked her a question—“but why now? Why today? I had the best day and this just puts a dark cloud over it.” She sat down at the island and read the letter again.

“So don’t meet up with him. You’re not required to.” I walked behind her and started rubbing her shoulders.

“I know, but I would like to hear what he has to say. I have so many questions. Where’s he been living? How many brothers and sisters do I have? Why did he have to leave
me
behind in the first place?” Her head snapped up in Sophia’s direction. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like—”